THE FAULT IN OUR STARS Director Josh Boone in Talks to Revive LESTAT at Universal; INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE Won’t Be Remade

All around I think this is a rather encouraging bit of news. Director Josh Boone, who is now very much in demand following the success of his recent film The Fault in Our Stars, appears to be pretty much all set up to write and direct Lestat, the new Anne Rice adaptation percolating at Universal. To me, this indicates that they want to focus on character in favor of spectacle overload (though I’m sure there will be a bit of that as well).

Equally good news? It looks as though Interview With the Vampire won’t be remade after all. At least not right now. A few weeks back I speculated that a remake would happen when the news broke that the rights to all of The Vampire Chronicles (including the upcoming Prince Lestat) were going to Universal, but I’m happy to admit that I was wrong on that particular prognostication. Hit the jump for more on Josh Boone directing Lestat.

Per The Wrap, Boone’s hiring is almost a done deal with producers Brian Grazer, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci behind the decision:

Boone is being eyed to both write and direct. Grazer, Kurtzman and Orci have signed off on Boone’s hiring, according to one insider, while Universal’s approval is expected to be a mere formality.

Lestat will of course be recast and the new adaptation will actually be a mix of several different sources:

Rather than remake of “Interview With the Vampire,” the new film is expected to draw from the second and third books in Rice’s series — “The Vampire Lestat” and “The Queen of the Damned” — and will likely be faithful to the source material.

I’ll take the above statement as confirmation that Universal does not consider the 2002 Aayliah vehicle as canon. All in all I think this is a solid development. What about you guys? Do you think The Fault in our Stars demonstrates an ability to crack this franchise?